Inheritance
by Janec Shannon
Summary: Haruhi didn’t exactly become the great lawyer she wanted to be and she’s lost contact with the host club members. What happens when the twins contact her for the first time in years needing her help? Haruhi/Hikaru or Haruhi/Twins not sure which yet .
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: **Haruhi didn't exactly become the great lawyer she wanted to be and she's lost contact with the host club members. What happens when the twins contact her for the first time needing her help? Haruhi/Hikaru or Haruhi/Twins (not sure which yet).

**_Warning: This will likely have lemons in later chapters. If you don't like that, don't read. _**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own, if I did Haruhi/Hikaru would be a canon couple.

.oO***Oo.

Haruhi sat in her tiny, unair-conditioned office working quietly. She had succeeded in her dream of becoming a lawyer like her mother but the dream wasn't all it was cracked up to be. She wasn't some big time lawyer who made millions, her name wasn't in the paper every day, she didn't get to pick and choose her clients.

That was one of the reasons she quickly got out of criminal law. Her first criminal case had been a burglary and the man she'd represented had been guilty. Oh she'd gotten him off, she would have lost her job if she hadn't, but she had trouble living with the guilt when the next time he came before a judge it was for murder. "Burglary gone wrong" is what the press called it, her name was never mentioned but that didn't stop the guilt from eating at her for months afterward.

Her desk was small but that didn't stop her from having one or two pictures displayed. One of her and Ranka at her graduation from college and one of the Host Club before it disbanded, it was one of the rare photos where she was dressed like a girl with the rest of them. Originally she'd displayed one of the more common ones where she had been dressed as a boy but the clients questioned her and her boss had told her to take it down.

Feeling particularly nostalgic, she picked up the picture and studied their faces. Haruhi couldn't help but wonder what they were like now; she hadn't seen most of them since a couple months before she'd graduated Ouran University. They'd fought over something so insignificant she couldn't even remember anymore. Did they still remember her? Their little commoner friend who cross-dressed as a boy from freshman year of high school until she graduated college? If they remembered her or cared about how she was doing they certainly didn't make it known, she hadn't heard from them in over 5 years. How old would that make them all now? The twins would be her age, 27, Tamaki and Kyoya 28, and Honey and Mori would be 29.

She smiled sadly trying to imagine what their lives were like now. Honey had opened his own bakery and toy stores with Mori's help, that she knew because there was one right down the street from her office. He'd made Usa-chan the mascot and logo for the company. She'd heard that Kyoya had started his own business under another name that had eventually bought out his father's medical group when he hadn't allowed him to succeed the company. She hadn't heard much about Tamaki or the twins though.

Tamaki had rather avoided her after they'd broken up after university. For all his pomp and circumstance, he'd brushed her under the rug as soon as his grandmother asked him to. "Commoner trash" she'd called her. What hurt the most was that Tamaki hadn't even defended her, just given her a sad, apologetic look as she walked out of his life forever. Any contact she'd had with Kyoya had been cut off after that, he made it obvious where his loyalties laid, not that she was surprised. There was no merit in siding with her.

The twins though… They'd remained good friends until busy schedules had driven them apart. Hikaru studied under his father to take over his father's software company, Kaoru studied under his mother to take over her line and create one of his own, and Haruhi had to study for her bar exam.

(AN: For those who don't know, the bar exam is basically the lawyer's certification test)

A knock on her door drove Haruhi out of her reverie. Huh, funny she should think of them all of a sudden… Maybe she should try getting a hold of them again, it had been a while since she'd tried last and Kaoru and Hikaru had always been her best friends through high school and college.

Haruhi set the picture down on her desk in its proper place and prepared for her next case: a man suing his father's estate because he was disinherited. What was he expecting... his father wasn't even dead yet... She groaned, it was basically her job to tell the man that they were unlikely to win but should he wish to pursue the matter Ohashi & Goda (the law firm she worked for) would be more than happy to represent him… for a hefty price.

That evening when Haruhi walked in the door of her two bedroom apartment, she went right to her room and dug up her box full of pictures from high school. She looked over picture after picture, recalling old memories. Oh how she wished she could go back to that time. The world was much simpler then and she still looked forward to a life of fighting for the poor, defending the innocent, righting all the wrongs in society.

Now look at her.

Fighting the good fight and defending the innocent were all well and good but she had bills to pay and the innocent were too often poor. Pro bono work doesn't pay the rent or put food in her stomach. So now at the age of 27 she was working for some fat, greedy git who charges ridiculous rates and makes as much as he can of his clients. At least he paid well. Not the best but certainly nothing to scoff at.

What was the cost of her morals, her pride, and her dreams, you ask?

$75,000 a year plus benefits.

Haruhi sighed, maybe she should find another job? One that would at least allow her to be a bit pickier or not gouge her clients? She certainly had enough saved she could live off it for quite some time while she found another, but no, undoubtedly any job she found would be just as bad… No, she would stick with her morally bankrupt boss for now. At least that way she was financially secure.

Financially secure and hungry, it was past dinner time.

Haruhi had just put the chicken in the frying pan with the phone rang. Grumbling about people needing to learn a sense of timing, she answered and quickly returned to the stove to keep the chicken from burning.

"_Haruhi?"_ She paused her stirring… that voice was familiar but she couldn't place it.

"Yes, what can I do for you?"

"_Its Kaoru and Hikaru…"_ Haruhi frowned as she took the chicken out of the pan and placed it on the waiting plate. Kaoru's voice sounded so… broken.

"Funny you called, I was just thinking about you two today. How are you? How's Hikaru?"

_"Haruhi, we're in trouble. We need your help."_

At this, Haruhi laughed. "What'd you do? Take one of your pranks too far and finally piss off someone with the ability to do something about it?"

_"Our parents are dead."_ The laughter died in her throat. _"And due to a 'technicality' our aunt has inherited both our mother's and father's companies as well as their entire estate. All we have is the money that was in our name when it happened."_

"Oh, Kaoru... When did this happen?" she asked sadly. She had liked Yuzuha and Seiryo (AN: I don't know the dad's name so I made one up).

_"About two weeks ago, did you hear about the plane that crashed on its way back from the Bahamas? We managed to keep it out of the news that that was our private jet. We found out this morning about the technicality." _Haruhi couldn't help but wonder why they didn't call her sooner but knew better than to question, if they didn't want her there than it wasn't her place to question them. _"Haruhi, we don't know what to do and we don't have anyone else to turn to, all our relatives kinda hate us... Can you help us?"_

"If that's what you want, of course I'll help you... but if you know enough to get a hold of my home phone number surely you realize I'm not exactly the big wig lawyer I planned on being. Don't you want a lawyer with a big record?"

_"See that's the thing... Like I said, all we have is the money that was in our names when it happened. We barely have enough to live off of let alone hire an expensive lawyer. We probably won't be able to pay you unless we win our inheritance back," _Kaoru informed her.

Ah, that would explain it then. They were contacting her because she was their last option. Wait... "Barely have enough to live off of, where are you two staying tonight?" Absently she wondered if they 'barely had enough to live off of' like _they_ were used to living or living like the rest of us were.

_"Probably a hotel or something. We haven't really gotten that far."_

Well at least they had grown up a bit over the years. Had this been high school or even college they would have simply shown up at her door and assumed it was ok to stay with her. "Nonsense. Where are you? You can stay here tonight."

_"We're at the door."_

Haruhi sighed, "What door?" A knock at _her_ door answered her question. She opened it to reveal two disheveled, tired looking twins. Ok, so maybe they hadn't matured _that_ much since college. She stood aside indicating they could come in and they did so, heading straight to her couch. "You look tired."

**"And hungry,"** they both informed her and she sighed. They definitely hadn't matured much since college.

"I just finished dinner, come on." She led them to the kitchen table and got out two extra plates and silverware. Fortunately, she had made extra so she'd have leftovers so there was enough for three of them.

She unfolded the mattress from her couch, grateful she'd gotten a sleeper-sofa for when her father came to visit, and got two pillows from the hall closet. Both twins merely watched as she put the sheets on the mattress and made up the bed for them.

It didn't take much convincing to get them to go to bed right after dinner. Once she had them tucked into the bed she went to her office (which was really just the second bedroom with office furniture in it). She worked in there until it was her own bedtime.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary: **Haruhi didn't exactly become the great lawyer she wanted to be and she's lost contact with the host club members. What happens when the twins contact her for the first time in years needing her help? Haruhi/Hikaru or Haruhi/Twins (not sure which yet).

Thank you to all those who reviewed and added me to story alert! Although those of you who didn't review, please do ^-^ I'd like to know what you think. Even if you didn't like something, you can tell me why. I promise I won't be offended.

.oO***Oo.

The next morning Haruhi woke up on her own, no alarm clock needed, and she made her way to the kitchen to make breakfast in her nightgown forgetting she had the twins sleeping on her couch. She was reminded rather painfully when she tripped over Kaoru (who'd been kicked out of the bed by Hikaru) and face planted on the floor. She sat there for a minute, trying to figure out what exactly he was doing in her apartment sleeping on her floor directly in her path to the kitchen. He sat there, having been rudely awakened by being tripped over, obviously trying to figure out the exact same thing. It all came flooding back to them at the same time and Haruhi stood slowly then offered her hand to Kaoru to help him up.

"Breakfast?" she asked. She made a mental note that she was going to need to go grocery shopping if she was going to be feeding three people for a while. While she whipped up a quick breakfast (pancakes) Kaoru used the opportunity to look her over.

She had matured over the last 5 years he hadn't seen her. She'd filled out her womanly curves and, though she was by no means large in certain areas, there was no way she could be mistaken for a man now despite the fact that she had kept her hair cropped short in the boy-cut she'd worn in high school. She'd grown her hair longer in college but had complained non-stop about it, only keeping it long because she was dating Tamaki and he'd wanted her to. Speaking of Tamaki... he looked around the apartment but saw no trace of the man, or _any_ man except her father and (as of last night) Hikaru and himself.

He glanced back at his brother and smiled. He was still asleep; Hikaru had always been a deeper sleeper than he and thus had always slept later.

"Let him sleep," came a quiet voice from the kitchen before he could even make a move to wake his brother up. "You guys look like you really need it, I didn't intend on waking you up either but I wasn't expecting you to be in the middle of the floor." Haruhi left out that she had forgotten they were there and so she hadn't actually expected him to be in the apartment at all.

"Yeah... Hikaru's always had trouble sharing a smaller bed. Remember at Misuzu's Pension? He'd always kick me out of the bed there too."

Haruhi laughed at that, "And then you used it as an excuse to make him go on a date with me. You know, he could always tell when you were lying, I'm amazed he never picked up on the fact that you weren't actually sick."

Kaoru laughed as well, "I think it was more of he either didn't want to realize it or didn't want to call me on it even if he did."

"Those were the days, ne?" She asked, she was still smiling but her eyes had taken on a deep sadness. "You guys used to annoy me so much then, but now... I'd give anything to go back and take full advantage of it. I miss how close everyone was..." Kaoru watched her and realized she seemed to have forgotten he was even there and had gotten lost in her memories.

"You tried that remember? 'Active Haruhi'? You decided it was too exhausting," he teased.

Her eyes focused on him and she plastered the smile back on her face but he could still see the hints of sadness in her eyes. "Of course." She put a plate of pancakes and an almost new bottle of maple syrup in front of him. He took the bottle tentatively, he remembered from high school that (unlike at his home) she did not have unlimited quantities of things. "Knock yourself out. I bought it for my dad when he visited last. I have another bottle Hikaru can use. I know how much you love the stuff."

He smiled gratefully as he dumped half the bottle on his pancakes. It wasn't long before the smell brought Hikaru wandering to the kitchen and Haruhi set a plate and bottle in front of him as well.

"I have to go to work today so you guys are going to be on your own. In the mean time, you need to get all pertinent information faxed or mailed to this address," as she spoke she grabbed a pen and paper and wrote an address down. "I need to go get ready for work but go ahead and make yourselves at home. There's food in the fridge, movies on the shelf above the tv, try not to destroy the place."

She stood up and took her shower. After she got out she called down the hall to let them know they could take one if they wanted then went to her room to get dressed. Kaoru was still in the shower when she went to the kitchen to grab one more cup of coffee for the road.

"So you dress like a woman now?" Haruhi froze and looked down at what she was wearing. She never really paid much attention, her closet was organized so she could just randomly grab things and they would match. "Well, go on. Do a 360," he commanded and she could already feel him eyeing her critically. Just because Hikaru had been studying to take over his father's software company doesn't mean that a lifetime of fashionable upbringing was forgotten.

Haruhi knew better than to think she was getting out of the house without doing as he said so she spun around slowly letting him see what she was wearing. When he didn't say anything for several moments she turned around to see shock on his face. "Well?" she questioned.

"That's one of Kaoru's," he told her. Haruhi just smiled softly.

"I know."

"I thought you didn't wear brand names, they're too expensive," she almost laughed at the accusatory tone he used.

"This was the first one I bought. Someone mixed it in with the sale rack, when I went to pay I found out it wasn't actually on sale but I liked it too much not to get it. It wasn't until I wore it and the women at work commented that I knew it was his. What do you think? Do I do his designing skills justice?"

Hikaru eyed her critically again, what she didn't realize was he wasn't evaluating whether she did justice to the clothes, but whether the clothes did justice to her. "They look good on you."

He chose not to mention that Kaoru had actually designed that outfit specifically for her. From the design to the proportions, even the materials used. The jacket was designed to make her chest look larger, to make it obvious she was female but without making her look slutty. He'd used fabric with very subtle vertical stripes to make her appear taller. And the outfit had been priced rather cheaply for a Hitachiin piece so that she wouldn't mind wearing or buying it. Kaoru would be pleased to know that she had not only found it on her own and liked it, but also (by the looks of it) wore it often.

He frowned when he looked at her feet however. While her jacket and pen skirt were beige, her shoes were white. Hikaru stood and walked to the room she had come out of (assuming that it was hers). Once glace at her shoe rack and he was easily able to pick out a pair that matched much better.

Kaoru came out of the bathroom just as he walked past and gave him an amused look when he saw him carrying a pair of beige flats. It only took the younger twin one glance to recognize his own work on Haruhi. She didn't notice the look he was giving her and changed her shoes (while giving Hikaru an "Are you satisfied?" look) then bid them goodbye.

They sat around looking at each other for several minutes but it didn't take them long to get bored.

"Well she did say-"

"-That we could make ourselves at home..."

.oO***Oo.

Ok, so that's it for chapter 2. Let me know what you think please! Here's a preview of chapter 3:

_Kaoru smirked. "It's a good thing Haruhi taught us how to make commoner's raman in high school," he commented as they made their way to the kitchen. It wasn't hard to find two packets of the instant raman, nor was it difficult to find two bowls to make it in or two forks to eat it with. Where the twins ran into trouble was the hot water. _

_At home whenever they needed hot water to make their commoner's raman it was just there, the same with the Host Club. They had never needed to learn where to get hot water from so they never did. It didn't take them long to come up with the idea that the stove can heat things so they could use that to boil water._

_This could not end well._


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary: **Haruhi didn't exactly become the great lawyer she wanted to be and she's lost contact with the host club members. What happens when the twins contact her for the first time in years needing her help? Haruhi/Hikaru or Haruhi/Twins (not sure which yet).

Ok, sorry it's a day late. I got busy last night between homework and my boyfriend and being exhausted there simply wasn't time to upload it. You get an extra long chappie for the wait though, so no complaining ;) Originally I had it split around the 1,000 word mark like the rest of the chapters but it just didn't seem to fit.

Thank you to everyone that reviewed ^-^ Reviews mean happy me, and happy me means more desire to work on the chapters me which means regular updates. Now for the story,

Enjoy!

.oO***Oo.

_They sat around looking at each other for several minutes but it didn't take them long to get bored. _

_"Well she did say-"_

_"-That we could make ourselves at home..." _

Soon they found themselves in her bedroom with her entire closet laid out in front of them and they couldn't help but notice that for someone who adamantly refused to wear their clothes when she was younger she sure owned a lot of them now. Hikaru wrinkled his nose at her selection of shoes however.

"Kaoru, you should have released a line of shoes to go with the outfits you designed... We should have known better than to leave the shoe selection up to her." As he spoke he held up an old, worn out sneaker by one finger. Kaoru would have laughed if he weren't equally disturbed by her wardrobe. "It would appear that I was wrong this morning when I thought she had gained a sense of fashion... The only clothes she owns that match are the ones you designed to go together. At least she keeps them on the same hanger so she wears them together. But look at this!" He held up another offending outfit that had been stored on a hanger together.

The rest of the morning was spent reorganizing her closet. They matched up what they deemed wearable and threw the rest into a pile. They were debating whether this shirt went better with these pants or that skirt when both of their stomachs let off loud rumbles.

Kaoru smirked. "It's a good thing Haruhi taught us how to make commoner's raman in high school," he commented as they made their way to the kitchen. It wasn't hard to find two packets of the instant raman, nor was it difficult to find two bowls to make it in or two forks to eat it with. Where the twins ran into trouble was the hot water.

At home whenever they needed hot water to make their commoner's raman it was just there, the same with the Host Club. They had never needed to learn where to get hot water from so they never did. It didn't take them long to come up with the idea that the stove can heat things so they could use that to boil water.

This could not end well.

.oO***Oo.

Haruhi was in her office with one of her clients, an older woman whose husband had died but the insurance company was refusing to pay out on his life insurance policy, when her secretary knocked at the door.

"Ms. Fujioka? I have a Hikaru on the line, he said it's urgent."

Haruhi sighed, knowing the twins "urgent" could be they were hungry and didn't know how to make lunch on their own or it could be they've burned the entire building down trying to make said lunch. "Tell him I'll call him back on my lunch break."

"Oh don't worry, deary. Go on and take the call," the old woman, Mrs. Hachibana, told her and settled back into her seat to get comfortable.

Haruhi gave her a grateful look and told her secretary to patch the call through. The old woman watched in amusement as Haruhi suddenly jerked the phone away from her ear because of the loud volume.

"Hikaru, calm down. What happened?" There was a pause while Hikaru explained, then Haruhi sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Why were you even using the stove?" Another pause. "And you couldn't use the kettle because...?" A short pause. "Yes, the kettle. It should be sitting right next to sink," Mrs. Hachibana held back a laugh at the exasperation in her lawyer's voice; she sounded like she was dealing with a child. "How bad of a burn is it?"

Once again Haruhi jerked the phone away from her ear and even Mrs. Hachibana could hear a male's voice over the phone yelling, "He burned himself isn't that bad enough?!"

"How long did he touch the pot for?" ... "Is it blistering?" ... "Ok, he's fine Hikaru. Run his hand under cold water then wrap some ice in a tea towel. I'm off in 10 minutes then I'll head home and look at it. Don't try to cook anything else in the mean time... I'll just make you two lunch." ... "Yeah, yeah. Bye."

Haruhi hung the phone up and slammed her head on her desk once. Mrs Hachibana reached across and patted her on the shoulder, "They can be so troublesome at that age, dear, but don't miss too much. They grow up fast."

Haruhi lifted her head from the desk and gave the old woman an amused smile, "If only that were the case. Those two haven't grown up a bit in 12 years."

"Oh, now I'm sure that's not true, deary. But we need to get on with the case, you need to get home and make sure the little one is alright."

When Haruhi arrived back at her apartment, she froze with her hand on the doorknob and steeled herself for the scene she was sure she would find when she opened the door. She had told them not to make another attempt at making themselves lunch but that didn't mean they would listen. The twins were not known for listening to other people unless they felt like it.

Fortunately the scene she had in her mind was not the one that greeted her when she opened the door. When she opened the door she found Kaoru and Hikaru sitting on the couch, Kaoru with a tea towel (she assumed filled with ice) on his hand.

She stormed forward and grabbed the Kaoru's wrist, none too gently, and pulled the injured hand towards her. While she examined it she occasionally looked up to send glares at the two twins. "What is wrong with you two?" she scolded. "I mean, did it not occur to you that the pot would be hot? We took physics together in high school! Even if we hadn't, by 27 you should know by now that when metal glows red... it's _hot_! And when other metal touches glowing metal, _that_ metal becomes _**hot.**_ Honestly Kaoru, I would have expected something like this from Hikaru-" she ignored Hikaru's indignant scoff and cut off any protests he might have by continuing, "-but I thought you at least had more common sense than this." Haruhi finished examining his hand and let it go, "Your fine, does it still hurt?"

Kaoru shook his head and saw Hikaru disappear to the bathroom to sulk out of the corner of his eye. Hikaru never had been able to deal with Haruhi's scoldings, had it been anyone else he would have simply ignored them, but Haruhi meant too much to him to simply brush off her words.

Haruhi didn't miss Hikaru's disappearance and shook her head, "The woman in the office while I was on the phone with you two thought I was talking to my children. You two really haven't matured at all since I first met you in high school, you know."

A cheshire grin appeared on Kaoru's face, "We have, it's just too much fun to tease you. Besides... It's not our fault we don't know how to work a commoner's kitchen, we never needed to know something like that, when we needed hot water it was always just there. Plus, we haven't even been _in_ a commoner's kitchen since we graduated."

"I suppose," Haruhi sighed and shook her head as she made her way to the kitchen. She picked up the pot (which the twins had left on the floor where Kaoru had dropped it) and examined the area it had landed on. There was a small dent in the wood but otherwise the floor was unharmed. She set the pot on the counter since it was no longer even warm and turned off the stove (which the twins had left on). She grabbed a towel and mopped up the water spilt on the floor.

Haruhi filled the kettle with enough water for three bowls of raman and plugged it in, giving Kaoru a meaningful glance but the younger twin wasn't paying attention. He was looking around the apartment and once again noticing the lack of male influence he had noticed that morning. More importantly, the lack of a certain blonde besides the one or two pictures of the entire club together. He was pleased to note that there were one or two pictures of Hikaru, Haruhi, and himself without the rest of the club though.

He glanced at the door and knew his brother could hear them. He also knew that Hikaru wanted to know just as badly, if not more, than he did but would never ask. "So... I notice there aren't any pictures of Tono around..." He prompted, from the angle he was at he could see the shadow by the bathroom door shift and knew Hikaru was trying to hear better.

Haruhi looked at him confused for a minute then realization dawned on her face, "Oh I suppose Tamaki and I broke up after you and I lost contact so you wouldn't have known."

"What happened?"

"Many things but what finally did it was when his grandmother told him to leave me."

"Are you ok?" Kaoru asked, worried by the slight sadness in her voice. Haruhi merely laughed though.

"That happened, what? Four and a half years ago? If I weren't over it by now I'd have bigger problems than the fact that he dumped me. I'm fine. Really. I sulked for a week then realized you were right all along. He didn't love _me_, he loved what I could have been. He loved the version of me that his 'inner mind theater' had come up with... Not to mention it's a little disturbing when your boyfriend keeps calling you his daughter." She chuckled lightly, "Looking back I'm rather grateful to his grandmother."

"Why didn't you ever try to contact us?" This time the hurt leaked through his own voice.

"I could ask you the same thing, you know." Haruhi arched an eyebrow and Kaoru looked down. It was true, just because they didn't have her number didn't mean they couldn't get it. They had easily gotten a hold of her address and phone number when they needed her help... "Life got busy. Once I got a job I had to move out here, then they kept me so busy that I would literally come home and collapse at night without even enough energy left to make dinner half the time.

"Before I knew it a year had passed and you'd changed your numbers. I tried your emails but you didn't respond there. Your secretaries told me that all personal matters should be dealt with on your personal line and if I didn't know that number than I didn't know you well enough to have a personal matter to get a hold of you for. I even tried sending snail mail but it got lumped in with your fan mail and I got the standard fan mail response." She finished.

"Oh," Kaoru responded slowly. "The press got a hold of our personal numbers and we had to change them. The same with the emails."

Haruhi smiled but before she could respond the water boiled and she poured it into the three bowls then walked out of the kitchen towards the bathroom. "Hika-" she stopped midsentence when she caught a glimpse through her bedroom door. Kaoru got a dangerous grin as she walked through the door and exclaimed, "What did you two do to my closet?!"

Hikaru appeared out of the bathroom at that comment with an equally dangerous grin. "You're doing a fashion show for us tonight." He informed her.

"I am?"

"You are," Kaoru confirmed.

"Do I get a say in this?" She asked, already knowing the answer. It was always the same.

**"Nope!"** they chorused together.

"Don't you think I should work on your inheritance case?"

"The paper's won't be here until Monday." At this point the two twins had linked their arms behind her back. A position she had become very familiar with over the years. "Just think-"

"-A whole weekend-"

**"-Of just us!"**

"Oh joy," she deadpanned.

.oO***Oo.

Hope you enjoyed it, so please don't forget to write a review.

The rest of the club is going to make an appearance, not quite sure _when_ that will happen yet, but they will show up.

Just to warn you now, the legal speak will probably start next chapter or the one after. The extent of my legal knowledge comes from Boston Legal so I'm probably going to have to make up some stuff. In fact I'm probably going to have to make up quite a bit. But, it's called fiction for a reason, ne?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary: **Haruhi didn't exactly become the great lawyer she wanted to be and she's lost contact with the host club members. What happens when the twins contact her for the first time in years needing her help? Haruhi/Hikaru or Haruhi/Twins (not sure which yet).

_I know its been forever and I'm sorry for that. Life just sorta got to me (well, life and a computer game I've been playing obsessively since I got it…) and I haven't had a lot of time to work on this. Anyway, its here now. Please enjoy!_

.oO***Oo.

And that evening when Haruhi returned from work, they did just that. She was dismayed to note that they had dug up certain items that she had long buried (with good reason) in her the back of her closet and slightly disturbed that several _new_ items seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. A quick glance at her office indicated that they had, in fact, not appeared out of nowhere but that the twins had bought (or brought with them) a sewing machine, dress maker's mannequin, and fabric which now rendered her office unusable.

Most outfits she modeled without protest, knowing that there was no way she was going to get out of it. Not to mention it was hard to miss how Kaoru's face lit up when she wore one of his line or how both their faces lit up when she modeled one of the new outfits.

Most is the keyword here. Some she very adamantly protested.

"No."

"Come on, Haruhi," Kaoru called through the door.

"I haven't worn this in over four years! It probably doesn't even fit any more."

**"We want to see it!"**

"I don't care."

"It's no different than trying on a swim suit," Hikaru called out.

"It's very different than trying on a swim suit!"

"In fact I think it even covers _more_ than the swim suits you tried on for us in high school and college," Kaoru remarked and Haruhi winced. He had a point there, although she hadn't willingly tried on _those_ either.

"That's not the point."

**"Don't make us come in there and change you."**

"You wouldn't dare," she said knowing full well they _would_ dare.

**"Is that a challenge?"**

"Cause, you know-"

"-We never back down-"

**"From a challenge."**

She heard them stalking towards the door and quickly found a place to hide the offending article of clothing then stood in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips not really caring that all she had on was her bra and underwear.

It wasn't like they hadn't seen it before. She had learned very early in their friendship that the twins had boundary issues. They didn't mean anything perverted by it, 80% of the time it was to annoy Tamaki and the other 20% of the time it was to annoy her.

"If Tono got to-"

"-See you wearing it-"

**"Why shouldn't we?"**

"Because Tamaki was my boyfriend when he saw me wearing it."

**"Then be our girlfriend and show us."**

"No," she replied once more, though this time there was a bit of a laugh in her voice. The twins smirked at each other; she was caving.

**"Haruhi, let's get married," **this had always been one of their favorite jokes and they found that even without Tamaki around to freak out when they said it they still very much enjoyed it.

"You guys really haven't changed since high school, have you?" Haruhi laughed.

"Sure we have," Hikaru replied, finally talking separate from his brother.

"We've matured," Kaoru told her with an arrogant sort of pride.

**"So show us or we'll put it on you ourselves."**

Haruhi sighed, but then thought up another idea to combat the twins. "Tell you what..." She had a smirk on her face to rival the twins', "If I ever do become your girlfriend I'll show you then, alright?"

Before they could answer a knock at the front door sounded through the apartment. It was the twins' turn to smirk.

**"We'll get it!"**

"Wait!" Haruhi called while scrambling to find a dress, a robe, anything to cover herself. "Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin don't you dare open that door until I have some clothes on!"

**"Too late!"** came their taunting reply and she groaned. She found herself a bathrobe and walked out of the bedroom completely mortified, knowing whoever was standing out there had heard that last comment.

Sure enough when she exited the bedroom, there stood a bright red Mindy Yamamoto. Mindy was a young office assistant at her firm, she was a bit clumsy but was a hard worker. The other lawyers typically tried to avoid giving her work because the first few cases she'd helped on had been lost and the lawyers and other assistants placed the blame on her because she was the newest hire.

Haruhi had looked over the case files and found that the mistakes made were ones any new assistant would make (and should have been caught by the other assistants). Mindy didn't make the same mistakes twice and with a bit of training she was just as good as the others.

The difference? She actually cared about her job. Haruhi had, unintentionally, earned her loyalty. The young office assistant would go out of her way to help Haruhi because she had been the only one to extend a helping hand when the girl needed it.

"I-I'm sorry if I'm interrupting.." Mindy stuttered.

Haruhi sighed and sent a glare at the twins (whose grins simply got larger). "You're not interrupting _anything_, Mindy."

"O-oh... Ok... Umm," Mindy was avoiding looking at her, instead she sent nervous glances to the twins and was none too subtle about it so the twins easily noticed. Seeing the familiar looks in their eyes, Haruhi spoke before they could break into one of their twincest routines. God, they hadn't outgrown that either?

"Is there a reason your here, Mindy?" Haruhi sent a warning look at the twins. _Don't make matters worse,_ she told them with her eyes.

"O-oh, y-yes, umm... This came for you just before I left. It looked important so I thought I'd drop it off for you." As Mindy spoke her nervousness faded away as she returned to familiar ground. She held a thick envelope out to Haruhi.

Haruhi smiled warmly at the young girl and, just as when she had been a host, sparkles seemed to surround her. The twins were rather pleased to note that her years in the host club had not gone to waste and had greatly improved her people skills. "Thank you, I really appreciate you dropping it by." Just like the girls in high school, though for different reasons, the young girl brightened at the praise.

"Haaruuhiii," Hikaru whined as he draped his arms around her shoulders. "Do you like her-"

"-Better than us?" Kaoru finished as he join his brother on her other side.

"Yes."

Both twins barely managed to keep the smirk off their faces. As much as Haruhi thought she had changed from high school she really hadn't. After a few years they had tried to incorporate her into their act but had found that she wasn't always the most willing participant. They had quickly adapted their act to accommodate her unwilling participation. They easily slipped into the old act now.

Haruhi simply ignored the fact that there were two full grown men hanging off her, she had gotten used to the twin's need for almost constant physical contact and despite the fact that she hadn't seen them in years felt no discomfort at their nearness now.

This is what made Mindy's eyes soften with a smile instead of swoon as they had expected. She had never seen Haruhi interact with anyone so naturally. Mindy always paid particular attention to Haruhi so she would been able to do what she needed without being asked, so Mindy knew her young boss well enough to tell that despite the fact that she acted annoyed by the twins presence, she was rather enjoying the way they hung off her and tried to rope her into their game while she calmly opened the envelope and read over the first page. A bright smile covered her face as she finished the first page.

"Good ol' Mori-senpai," she muttered as she slid the page back into the envelope. "Would you like to stay for dinner, Mindy? You went through all the trouble of bringing this here."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to intrude..."

"Trust me, you aren't intruding," Haruhi assured her but Mindy shook her head.

"I have plans tonight anyway. Please enjoy your evening with your boyfriend...s," she hesitated slightly before adding the 's' to the term but with one more look over the twins decided that was really the only title she could give the relationship they seemed to share. It took every bit of will power not to back away when the twins' faces lit up at the word 'boyfriends'. Their faces had filled with a sort of mischievous delight that would have scared anyone.

"Did you hear that, Haruhi?" one of the twins, Mindy couldn't tell which, said huskily in her ear.

"We're your boyfriends," the other twin whispered in her other ear.

"You know-"

"-What that means..."

**"You have to try that outfit on and show it to us,"** they both chorused together then started making their way toward her room chanting, **"Change! Change!"** all the way.

Haruhi groaned. "Just because she mistook you two for my boyfriends doesn't mean you are, which means I _don't_ have to try it on and show it to you," she called out to them.

Mindy knew better than to ask what they were talking about. "Well, I'm going to go now. I'm meeting my boyfriend for dinner tonight."

Haruhi nodded and showed her to the door. Once she was gone she went to the kitchen to make dinner, hoping that food would distract the twins from their desire to make her try on the outfit. She was right. The minute she went to the kitchen and started getting out the ingredients needed, the twins started cheering, **"Haruhi's cooking! Haruhi's cooking!" **

Haruhi looked at them in confusion. "You guys ate my cooking last night and this morning for breakfast, why are you only just now cheering about it?"

"Last night you didn't actually make the food for us," Hikaru explained.

"And this morning it was just boxed powder that you added water to," Kaoru added.

"**So those don't count!"**

"Like it makes a difference," Haruhi sighed. The twins ignored her and simply continued to cheer.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary: **Haruhi didn't exactly become the great lawyer she wanted to be and she's lost contact with the host club members. What happens when the twins contact her for the first time in years needing her help? Haruhi/Hikaru or Haruhi/Twins (not sure which yet).

_I want to thank everyone for their reviews. Sorry this chapter has been so long in coming and I know it's not really an excuse, but life has been busy. I know where I want this fic to go, I'm just having trouble getting it there. But I am trying!_

_Anyway, enjoy!_

.oO***Oo.

As they ate dinner, Haruhi pulled the contents of the envelope and started reading them over more carefully.

"So you kept in contact with Mori-senpai-"

"-but not us?"

Haruhi looked up from the papers to see the twins had matching pouts on their faces.

"He became a lawyer too, you know… We run into each other once in a while at the courthouse is all," she explained.

The twins continued when Haruhi went back to the papers. They were about to begin teasing her again until they saw her frown. "Haruhi?" Kaoru asked, for the first time since the whole thing started worried that maybe they might not actually be able to get their parents companies back. Hikaru picked up on his brother's concern and became quiet.

"You two owe Mori-senpai a huge thank you," She told them.

"**Why?"**

"Because if I hadn't gotten these papers before Monday when I went in to work you two would have been screwed. Sorry but we're going to have to cancel the rest of the fashion show." Haruhi wasn't really sorry, she herself owed Mori a thank you for getting her out of wearing... _it_.

"**Why?"** they asked again. Whether it was why they owed him a thank you or why they had to cancel the fashion show she didn't know or particularly care.

"Because, I'm going to have to start working on the paperwork for all of this. We're going to have to file a continuance, you're supposed to meet with the judge on Tuesday. They certainly waited until the last second to let you know about this technicality."

"**The lawyer probably did it on purpose,"** they informed her.

"That would be illegal," Haruhi told them, although she had to admit…

"**So?"**

"So… no lawyer is going to do something like that. It could get them disbarred."

"**He's paid enough not to care."**

Haruhi sighed, this was an argument she didn't feel like fighting and it was irrelevant if the lawyer did it on purpose or not anyway. "I'm going to go look over all this and go get the paper work started. Put your dishes in the sink when you're done I'll clean them up later."

She didn't trust them to clean the dishes themselves and she hoped that since she was working on something for them they would have the common sense to leave her alone. She grabbed her own plate and put it in the sink then grabbed the envelope and walked to her office. After a few minutes she popped her head back out, "Oh, by the way. You need to clean up the mess you made in my bedroom," she told them. That kept them busy for all of 15 minutes, so it wasn't long until the twins were bored.

Boredom was not something they handled well.

They didn't have any of their game systems, they had never been fond of card games (and didn't see any cards around even if they had wanted to play cards), they had seen all the movies Haruhi had on the shelf above her tv (not that her selection was that great), and she didn't pay for cable or satellite television. She only got the local channels and there was nothing good on.

As though she had sensed a plan in the making Haruhi chose that moment to come out and do the dishes. She noticed them sitting on the couch with innocent looks on their faces and knew instantly they were anything but innocent. "There are books in the office, if you're bored." She told them as she rinsed the dishes off.

**"We didn't see them when we were in there before."**

"Maybe that's because you covered them up with all the fabric you've decided to store in there," she told them pointedly.

They made no move to get books to read until she returned to the office to work. Only then did they both file in and begin to pick out books to read. Once they picked out their books she told them to go lie on the couch or her bed to read and let her work in peace.

"Hikaru," she started and he paused in the doorway. "Please don't write in my books." She reminded him. He had a nasty habit of circling or highlighting the perpetrator in mystery novels and she had made the mistake in high school of loaning him one of her books before she read it. Needless to say she never loaned him her mystery books again after that.

"But Haruhi..." he whined, "I do it for your own good. I mean if I didn't indicate who did it then you'd be up all night trying to finish the book to find out who did. I don't want you losing sleep over something to insignificant!"

"That's the same excuse you always gave Kaoru and it's the same excuse you tried to use on me in high school. It still doesn't work."

"Why do you think Kaoru prefers historical non-fiction?" He asked as he draped himself over her.

"Because he likes history," She told him.

"Bzzzt Bzzzt. It's because with historical non-fiction he already knows what's going to happen!"

"You couldn't lie to her back in college, Hikaru. What makes you think you can do it now?" Kaoru's voice came from the doorway where he stood with an amused expression on his face.

"Just don't write in my book, ok?" she told Hikaru and returned to her work, completely ignoring the fact that he was still wrapped around her. He was going to continue to annoy her but Kaoru spoke up.

"Hikaru, Haruhi is working hard for us, don't you think we should let her work?" Kaoru always had been the voice of reason.

Haruhi mouthed a "thank you" to him when Hikaru (sulkenly) disentangled himself from her and followed his brother. For the rest of the evening the only times they disturbed her was when they finished one book and went to get another. Two or three books later, Hikaru found her asleep at her desk when he went to get his next book.

He picked her up as gently as he could so as not to wake her up, and carried her to her bedroom. Kaoru had seen him coming out the door with her and had already turned down the covers. When Hikaru set her down, she clung to his shirt and whimpered slightly at the loss of warmth when his pried her fingers off.

They watched her sleep for a few minutes before they went back out to the living room where their own bed/the couch was.

"She's alone here," Hikaru said after a few minutes of silence. Kaoru didn't say anything, knowing Hikaru had more to say but was still trying to form it into sentences. "No one calls her, she hasn't mentioned any friends. It's like she's reverted to the way she was before she joined the Host Club."

"We've only been here two days, maybe she just told all her friends she had company over," Kaoru reassured him, thought he said it to reassure himself just as much as his twin brother. "And what about that Mindy woman? Haruhi seemed rather friendly with her…"

"She's just someone who works under her. All Haruhi does is work, eat, and sleep."

Kaoru said nothing, he just closed the book and put it on the floor since he wasn't able to read it anyway. They fell into silence again as they finally laid down to go to sleep.

"Kaoru?"

"Hmm?" He could hear the sleep filling Hikaru's voice.

"Why didn't we try to get a hold of her?"

"I don't know..." Kaoru said sadly.

"We should have." Kaoru could hear that Hikaru was almost asleep now. Kaoru gathered his brother in his arms and began stroking his hair to sooth him to sleep.

"Yeah."

"She did all that to try to get a hold of us," his sentence was interrupted by a yawn, "but we didn't even try..."

"We're here now." Hikaru made no reply and Kaoru looked down to see his brother's breathing had evened out and he had finally fallen asleep. He kissed Hikaru's forehead and glanced towards Haruhi's door. "We're here now," he repeated.


End file.
